Stop this war between old and young about who pays for social care
sir – The creation of intergenerational discontent by politicians, and now by Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS (report, April 25), has to stop. They take everyday facts and twist them.
To say that older middle-class people must sell their homes to fund care seems to imply that they have become rich on the backs of others.
It is a fact of life that a young couple starting out in life will not have had time to accrue as much wealth as an older couple who have worked all their lives.
There is a danger of alienating the younger generation. Why would a young couple just starting out bother to buy a home, knowing it would be taken from them in their old age?
We need to focus on how those who can afford it can insure themselves against such needs in later life. This will generate an industry all of its own that can not only provide quality care, but also leave more funds available to provide care for those less fortunate. Mike Mckone
Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria sir – The unfairness in the proposal by Simon Stevens, that old people should sell their homes to fund their care, is not just about the difference between those who worked and those who sat on their backsides.
People with identical lifetime incomes can be treated very differently in retirement, depending on whether they chose to save and buy a house or not.
The profligate can enjoy a whole range of benefits, not just for care, while the financially cautious will pay for everything.
The underlying problem is that the benefits system encourages irresponsible financial behaviour. A E Pyne
Bedford
sir – Why do we have such a fetish about making use of our homes when we can no longer live in them? If I’d invested in the stock market and held a portfolio of £100,000, people would ridicule me if I said I wanted to ring fence that to give to my children, while
expecting other people’s children to pay for my care through taxation. Robert Mills
Bideford, Devon
sir – Are we getting to the stage where someone going into a baker’s shop for a loaf of bread is asked what they earn? A loaf to you is 80p, but to someone better off it’s £1, and to the rich £5. Peter Cowey
Ponteland, Northumberland
sir – I paid for my healthcare all my working life. As a retired headmaster, I now pay for my social care by losing half my state pension, because my earned (and already taxed) income is above a limit set by the Government. LA Lawrence
Devizes, Wiltshire
sir – If the old sell their houses, who is going to buy the old millionaires’ mansions? More Russian oligarchs? Certainly not the young. Eddie Peart
Rotherham, South Yorkshire